


Even More Babysitting

by SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher (UglyJackal)



Series: Jack and Ydris have a baby AU [5]
Category: Star Stable
Genre: Jack/Ydris have a baby AU, Zelda/Justin have a baby AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 08:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12186588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UglyJackal/pseuds/SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher
Summary: Jack is roped into babysitting the demon twins and decides to rope in Z too





	Even More Babysitting

Jack sighed as he knocked on the door of Z’s flat in Moorland. He still felt stupidly guilty over how he reacted when his friend was upset over Justin’s imprisonment, when the wound was still fresh and bleeding. He was here because Angus and Idun had asked him to babysit the twins again, and Jack had said that he would get Ydris to help out too, seeing as the twins really liked him the last time. When he had asked Ydris, his fiancée had looked at him apologetically and said that he had some business to attend to at home. When asked what that was, Ydris sighed and said that he couldn’t say.

‘Secret magician stuff… I hope you understand?’

The younger man sighed and nodded.

‘Maybe you could take Joan though,’ Ydris added, 'I won’t be able to tend to her while I’m busy, and she might calm the twins down too.’

Despite his reluctance, Jack had agreed and taken Joan out of the wagon in her pram.

Then he thought about his friend, who was still upset over her boyfriend’s absence, and he had decided to go and rope her into babysitting too.

He could hear some sort of commotion inside the house, and soon after, the door opened and a very tired-looking Zelda with a screaming toddler on her hip greeted Jack.

Jack smiled awkwardly at her. 'Hey, Z,’ he said.

'Hello, Jack,’ Z sighed, 'I’m a little busy, what do you need?’

'Look… I, uh… I know it’s been a little awkward lately,’ he said, 'and I thought that we could do something together. Bring Catherine too, if you like, I’m bringing Joan.’

Zelda seemed to think for a moment, bouncing Catherine, the toddler on her hip, to try and calm her down. 'You know what? Yeah, fine, we’ll do it. I could probably use getting Cath out of the house,’ she said, 'so where are we going?’

'Um… you might not like this, but…’ Jack hesitated, bracing himself for his friend’s anger, 'we’re… I gotta babysit the Goldspur twins.’

Zelda shut her eyes and let out a long sigh. There was silence for a moment, where Jack started to edge away quietly with Joan, who was fiddling with a stuffed toy.

'Fine,’ his friend said suddenly, 'I’ll just get Cath’s pram.’

Jack’s eyebrows raised almost into his hairline. 'Really?… well… thanks, Z.’

Zelda came back with her still crying toddler in a pram. 'It’s cool. I might not like the twins very much, but maybe with someone else her own age to play with, Cath will calm down a little,’ she said, setting off at a brisk walk out of the gates. Jack hurried along behind her.

They walked in slightly awkward silence, but it was no more comfortable when the pair had taken trail rides without talking sometimes. The only noise was from Catherine, who was still crying.

'How long had Catherine been crying?’ Jack asked.

'About an hour,’ Z said, 'I’ve tried feeding her, changing her, playing with her… but nothing seems to be working.’

'Oh… did you… I don’t know if this is a bit forward, but… did you want me to try something?’ he said.

'Sure, go for it, what have we got to lose?’

The pair stopped at the base of the small incline that led up to Ydris’ highland, out of the way of passing horses and riders. Jack lifted the crying toddler out of the pram and settled her in his arms. He bounced her up and down a little bit, careful not to rock her too much in case they saw a return of her breakfast.

He brought a hand up to her tummy and tickled her. 'Now, what’s all this, young lady?’ he said to her. She giggled as she was tickled and then grabbed onto Jack’s ear, pulling roughly. Z snorted at her friend’s face of discomfort. 'Are you being a bit of trouble for Mummy, hm?’ Jack said.

Catherine babbled in response. 'Miss Daddy!’ she cried.

Jack bit his lip and glanced at Z, who was looking at the floor with tears threatening to spill from her eyes. 'Yeah, we’re all missing your dad, Cath,’ Jack said, stroking her head.

Catherine seemed to have calmed down and yawned. When Jack put her back into the pram, she nodded off and was quiet for the rest of the journey to the Goldspur farm.

Angus and Idun greeted them and cooed at their children before they rushed off to wherever they were going. Jack unbuckled Joan from her pram and she went over to say hello to the twins, who were looking incredibly mischievous today. Z unbuckled Catherine but didn’t wake her up.

Z and Jack sat down on the front doorstep and watched Joan play hide and seek with the twins. This went on for some time, until Jack sighed and turned to his friend.

'Look… Z… I just wanted to say that I’m so sorry for being such a dick about Justin’s imprisonment that day,’ he said, 'I didn’t think… about how hurt you would be.’

Z sighed. 'Jack… I don’t hold anything against you,  you know,’ she said, 'like… yeah, it hurt when you said that Fripp and the Druids had made a smart decision, because, at the time, I was just thinking about myself and Justin. I didn’t think about the possible dangers of Justin coming home. I was just so happy that my boyfriend had finally come home that I was prepared to believe anything, and when Fripp took that away from me, I was just so angry!’

Jack put a tentative hand on Z’s shoulder. 'And I should have thought that too,’ he said, 'if it was Ydris… I’d have been the same.’

Z wrapped her arms around her friend, nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck. 'Thanks for apologising, though,’ she said, 'even though you sorta didn’t need to.’

Jack returned Z’s hug, wrapping an arm around her middle. 'You’re welcome,’ he said, 'I felt really friggin’ guilty about it. We’re so close, and I didn’t want to lose my closest friend over some stupid mistake.’

'I wouldn’t fall out with you over that, silly,’ she said, 'when Justin comes back, though, I’ll try and keep you two away from each other, because I know that you don’t really trust him all that much.’

Jack gasped in a mocking fashion. 'Z, I am hurt,’ he said with a smirk, 'but that’s fair. Maybe I can come round to Justin like you did Ydris.’

Z smiled. 'Yeah, maybe.’

There was a shout from Joan. 'Daddy! You can’t just sit there all day!’ she cried, 'I need help finding Alex and Hanni.’

'Oh, on nickname terms now, eh?’ Jack chuckled. The two friends pulled away from their hug and got up to help Joan find the twins. They grinned at each other, happy that there was no awkwardness between them now.


End file.
